McCotter Gets Rough On Romney

So far, the race for the 2012 Republican nomination has been pretty mud free.

Mitt Romney meets with entrepreneurs at Bizdom U, a business development center, in Detroit, Thursday. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

That would change quickly if Rep. Thaddeus McCotter jumped in. While hinting at entering the 2012 race, the Michigan Republican hasn’t been shy about taking shots at the putative front-runner, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Mr. Romney, he says, walks arm in arm with President Barack Obama.

The five-term congressman said that Mr. Romney at one point or another has shared the same posture as President Obama on climate legislation, the Wall Street bailout, and “government controlling the supply of health care.”

Mr. Romney was born in Michigan, where his father, George Romney, served as governor and was an executive in the automotive industry.

The younger Romney got booed by protesters, most of them auto workers, outside a diner Thursday morning during a campaign stop. Mr. Romney opposed the Obama-orchestrated restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler that saved thousands of jobs in Michigan.

Asked about a potential 2012 run, Mr. McCotter, a 45-year-old lawyer and one-time guitar player for the now-defunct band, the New Flying Squirrels, told reporters , “I don’t worry about what I will or will not do until I decide to do it.”

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